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Monthly Archives: June 2016

Toured the Recology Center Portland with my dear friend Eric and learned that Portland has several waste transfer stations through out the city. The one unusual thing about Recology is its relationship with a non-profit called Cracked Pots that gleans items from the transfer station to create art through their artist in residency program and sells things through Re-Claim it!

Biking home I thought about how much I love the freedom and independence this car free year has gifted me. It has been over 5 months since I’ve gotten into a motorized vehicle and I feel great! Every morning I hop on my magical broomstick and fly to wherever I wish to go. I never get stuck places without a ride home. I never have to sit in traffic or feel indifferent to the places I travel through. Best of all I get to ride along this lovely bike path by the river, watching the birds dance, the flowers bloom and the light change the water different colors. Celebrating human powered transportation has taught me patience, planning and presence.

“Doesn’t matter where you came from, just pick up the shovel and start digging”-Edward Hill.

The Village Building Convergence gathered hundreds of people earlier this month for 10 days of permaculture action and joyous celebration. The Village Building Convergence is a community action festival where neighbors come together with visitors to create community spaces that feature public art, gathering places, permaculture gardens and natural buildings in a process they call “placemaking”. These projects happen each day of the festival at over 40 sites throughout Portland. Then in the evening everyone comes together for an inspiring conference, community gathering and beautiful music festival!

Climbed up on the roof to watch the village heart beat.💗 Glowing with gratitude to live in this community and celebrate our human (kin)nection in a beautiful way. This intersection was first painted in 1996 as a way of taking back the streets from cars and the bureaucracy downtown. At first the city got mad at this group of rebellious artists but after 3 months of coming to terms with the many benefits of neighborhood resilience they legalized it for anyone to create in every neighborhood in the whole city of Portland for free!

I was in charge of all the waste after the festival…mainly came in the form of single use wrappers, bottles and cans from the food sponsors. Its hard because it’s wonderful to get larger companies to donate their organic products for the festival but it would be even cooler if we had enough funds to support local people and bypass packaging…. So it goes being a small non-profit with not much money. I also organized an up-cycled toilet paper roll workshop during the night time events. Kids were definitely the most excited to make flowers out of TP and twisty ties! AND I got to meet one of my heros at the Convergence, humble surf legend Cyrus Sutton at the VBC this year. From his documentaries addressing social and environmental issues to his guide on living simply with minimal stuff he has been and continues to be a huge inspiration on my activist journey. Follow his adventures as he helps heal the planet on his instagram and DIY surf blog Korduroy tv.

Building relationships and weaving together community, is what zero waste is about. In order to buy something thats not in a package you have to go to the source.

SHOP SLOWSeek out Handmade Original Products with Sustainable Local Organic Without waste values in mind. Find the local person in your community who specializes in that thing you need. Localizing life gifts us the opportunity to support neighbors and buy things from a friendly face rather than a plastic package with a cute label.

We live in a world of illusion. Every time we enter a grocery store we are surrounded by fruits, vegetables and tons of packaged food that traveled many many miles to get there. I live in Oregon and yet pineapples and mangos fill the produce shelves. We hardly know what actually grows in our area let alone what grows during which seasons. We have a huge disconnect from where our food comes from and who has access to the good organic food.

Learning how to grow our own food and document the process to teach others is so important. Learning what grows in our local area, skills on how to harvest, and process food. We can all celebrate food abundance by showing gratitude through sharing with the community.

The heart of the zero waste revolution is in farmers markets. Food is the most consumed “product” in the world. The more we support and empower local farmers selling real food, the more we build local resilience and strength.

I am stoked to have found the People’s farmers market and the kinnect with the radical activists that grow food justice every day.

Save the planet! shifting to a carfree lifestyle is one of the most powerful things a person can do to make a real difference in reducing negative environmental impacts on this planet.

“Our message to the world is one of simplification, human harmony and love. For a future to exist for tomorrows generations, we have to stop wasting the life blood energy of the Earth, stop fighting and killing in the name of consumerist wealth accumulation and learn to love and respect all life on this planet.” – Conrad Schmidt, founder of The Work Less Party and Artists for Peace and WNBR and organizer for WNBR Vancouver, BC

It’s time to put a stop to the indecent exposure of people and the planet to cars and the pollution they create. We face automobile traffic with our naked bodies as the best way of defending our dignity and exposing the vulnerability faced by cyclists and pedestrians on our streets as well as the negative consequences we all face due to dependence on oil, and other forms of non-renewable energy.

Breathe easier. “If you stand in a closed garage with a running car, you will die in a matter of minutes. Hundreds of thousands of cars in our cities create dirty, unhealthy air.” – Go By Bicycle

Body image/self awareness. Cycling promotes body awareness, the fact that one can achieve a more healthy lifestyle from the exercise we achive by using self-powered transport

Less is more. WNBR strips the complexities from modern transport to a simplified message of cycling. For the vast majority of most peoples’ transport needs, cycles are the right vehicle for the right job. “You don’t need a wheelbarrow to carry a pea”.

The unabashed vehicle of the revolution. By cycling naked we declare our confidence in the beauty and individuality of our bodies and the bicycles’s place as a catalyst for change in the future of sustainability, transport, community and recreation.

“Unless we change direction, we are likely to end up where we are heading.”

Community-building. Bicycles create public space, enhance street life and build a sense of community

“If you see someone you know while riding, it’s easy to stop and say hello. Bicycles create public space, enhance street life and build a sense of community”– Go By Bicycle

Peace of mind. “People are looking for places where they’re not constantly being confronted with cars. It’s just like non-smokers seeking smoke-free space.” – Franziska Eichstaedt-Bohlig, German Green Party